EFN handed the #HandleTheHeat Open Letter to European Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, signed by 17 healthcare organisations and over 160 healthcare professionals, calling for healthcare to be placed at the heart of Europe’s climate resilience agenda.
This summer has shown what is at stake. Nurses and allied Healthcare professionals worked through extreme heat in overheated wards and treatment rooms, while hospitals faced cooling failures, equipment problems and rising pressure on already stretched teams. Healthcare cannot be resilient if the healthcare professionals and facilities delivering healthcare are not protected.
The open letter calls on the European Commission to:
- Protect nurses and allied healthcare professionals from heat and other climate risks
- Invest in climate-resilient hospitals and healthcare facilities
- Strengthen the health workforce and EU coordination during climate emergencies
- Move from emergency response to prevention through stronger early-warning and preparedness systems
The EU has the opportunity put health at the core of the forthcoming Climate Resilience and Risk Management Framework. The European Union must make healthcare resilience a priority – so Europe’s hospitals can #HandleTheHeat.
>> Read the open letter: https://europe.noharm.org/handletheheatopenletter